Ryan Andrew Newson: ‘Brutalizing’ ourselves

Regarding the Oct. 7 letter “Refuting death penalty claims”: I am afraid Rep. Paul Stam omitted one claim that remains of primary importance, at least to me.

Claim: The death penalty is morally damaging to the society doing the killing. That is, the death penalty bespeaks a moral bankruptcy, an impatience, that contradicts any supposed belief in the power of forgiveness, redemption and rehabilitation (a key component of forgiveness that Stam seemed to neglect) for even the worst of offenders.

Does Stam believe in this possibility or not? Do we?

I, for one, hope that we are still capable of hearing these words from Desmond Tutu regarding the death penalty: “What are you doing to yourselves, you wonderful, generous people? You are brutalizing yourselves. ... It is making you an obscene nation.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2015 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Ryan Andrew Newson: ‘Brutalizing’ ourselves."